JSONP with ASP.NET Web API

Question

After asking this question, I finally found what I needed, so I am answering it.

I ran across this JsonpMediaTypeFormatter. Add it into the Application_Start of your global.asax by doing this:

var config = GlobalConfiguration.Configuration;
config.Formatters.Insert(0, new JsonpMediaTypeFormatter());

and you are good to go with an JQuery AJAX call that looks like this:

$.ajax({
    url: 'http://myurl.com',
    type: 'GET',
    dataType: 'jsonp',
    success: function (data) {
        alert(data.MyProperty);
    }
})

It seems to work very well.

Here is an updated version of the JsonpMediaTypeFormatter for use with WebAPI RC:

public class JsonpMediaTypeFormatter : JsonMediaTypeFormatter
{
    private string callbackQueryParameter;

    public JsonpMediaTypeFormatter()
    {
        SupportedMediaTypes.Add(DefaultMediaType);
        SupportedMediaTypes.Add(new MediaTypeHeaderValue("text/javascript"));

        MediaTypeMappings.Add(new UriPathExtensionMapping("jsonp", DefaultMediaType));
    }

    public string CallbackQueryParameter
    {
        get { return callbackQueryParameter ?? "callback"; }
        set { callbackQueryParameter = value; }
    }

    public override Task WriteToStreamAsync(Type type, object value, Stream stream, HttpContent content, TransportContext transportContext)
    {
        string callback;

        if (IsJsonpRequest(out callback))
        {
            return Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
            {
                var writer = new StreamWriter(stream);
                writer.Write(callback + "(");
                writer.Flush();

                base.WriteToStreamAsync(type, value, stream, content, transportContext).Wait();

                writer.Write(")");
                writer.Flush();
            });
        }
        else
        {
            return base.WriteToStreamAsync(type, value, stream, content, transportContext);
        }
    }


    private bool IsJsonpRequest(out string callback)
    {
        callback = null;

        if (HttpContext.Current.Request.HttpMethod != "GET")
            return false;

        callback = HttpContext.Current.Request.QueryString[CallbackQueryParameter];

        return !string.IsNullOrEmpty(callback);
    }
}

You can use an ActionFilterAttribute like this:

public class JsonCallbackAttribute : ActionFilterAttribute
{
    private const string CallbackQueryParameter = "callback";

    public override void OnActionExecuted(HttpActionExecutedContext context)
    {
        var callback = string.Empty;

        if (IsJsonp(out callback))
        {
            var jsonBuilder = new StringBuilder(callback);

            jsonBuilder.AppendFormat("({0})", context.Response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync().Result);

            context.Response.Content = new StringContent(jsonBuilder.ToString());
        }

        base.OnActionExecuted(context);
    }

    private bool IsJsonp(out string callback)
    {
        callback = HttpContext.Current.Request.QueryString[CallbackQueryParameter];

        return !string.IsNullOrEmpty(callback);
    }
}

Then put it on your action:

[JsonCallback]
public IEnumerable<User> User()
{
    return _user;
}

Certainly Brian's answer is the correct one, however if you already are using the Json.Net formatter, which gives you pretty json dates and faster serialization, then you can't just add a second formatter for jsonp, you have to combine the two. It is a good idea to use it anyway, as Scott Hanselman has said that the release of ASP.NET Web API is going to use the Json.Net serializer by default.

public class JsonNetFormatter : MediaTypeFormatter
    {
        private JsonSerializerSettings _jsonSerializerSettings;
        private string callbackQueryParameter;

        public JsonNetFormatter(JsonSerializerSettings jsonSerializerSettings)
        {
            _jsonSerializerSettings = jsonSerializerSettings ?? new JsonSerializerSettings();

            // Fill out the mediatype and encoding we support
            SupportedMediaTypes.Add(new MediaTypeHeaderValue("application/json"));
            Encoding = new UTF8Encoding(false, true);

            //we also support jsonp.
            SupportedMediaTypes.Add(new MediaTypeHeaderValue("text/javascript"));
            MediaTypeMappings.Add(new UriPathExtensionMapping("jsonp", "application/json"));
        }

        public string CallbackQueryParameter
        {
            get { return callbackQueryParameter ?? "jsoncallback"; }
            set { callbackQueryParameter = value; }
        }

        protected override bool CanReadType(Type type)
        {
            if (type == typeof(IKeyValueModel))
                return false;

            return true;
        }

        protected override bool CanWriteType(Type type)
        {
            return true;
        }

        protected override Task<object> OnReadFromStreamAsync(Type type, Stream stream, HttpContentHeaders contentHeaders,
            FormatterContext formatterContext)
        {
            // Create a serializer
            JsonSerializer serializer = JsonSerializer.Create(_jsonSerializerSettings);

            // Create task reading the content
            return Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
            {
                using (StreamReader streamReader = new StreamReader(stream, Encoding))
                {
                    using (JsonTextReader jsonTextReader = new JsonTextReader(streamReader))
                    {
                        return serializer.Deserialize(jsonTextReader, type);
                    }
                }
            });
        }

        protected override Task OnWriteToStreamAsync(Type type, object value, Stream stream, HttpContentHeaders contentHeaders,
            FormatterContext formatterContext, TransportContext transportContext)
        {
            string callback;
            var isJsonp = IsJsonpRequest(formatterContext.Response.RequestMessage, out callback);

            // Create a serializer
            JsonSerializer serializer = JsonSerializer.Create(_jsonSerializerSettings);

            // Create task writing the serialized content
            return Task.Factory.StartNew(() =>
            {
                using (JsonTextWriter jsonTextWriter = new JsonTextWriter(new StreamWriter(stream, Encoding)) { CloseOutput = false })
                {
                    if (isJsonp)
                    {
                        jsonTextWriter.WriteRaw(callback + "(");
                        jsonTextWriter.Flush();
                    }

                    serializer.Serialize(jsonTextWriter, value);
                    jsonTextWriter.Flush();

                    if (isJsonp)
                    {
                        jsonTextWriter.WriteRaw(")");
                        jsonTextWriter.Flush();
                    }
                }
            });
        }

        private bool IsJsonpRequest(HttpRequestMessage request, out string callback)
        {
            callback = null;

            if (request.Method != HttpMethod.Get)
                return false;

            var query = HttpUtility.ParseQueryString(request.RequestUri.Query);
            callback = query[CallbackQueryParameter];

            return !string.IsNullOrEmpty(callback);
        }
    }

Rick Strahl's implementation worked best for me with RC.